do you think that's because merkel came and they hatched a plan together? what do you think caused this shift? >> well, it would be go if chancellor merkel signed up for something like this. up until now she said if russia invaded, it's highly unlikely simil vladimir putin would invade. so what the president articulated is a more realistic criteria. i'm just hoping that the europeans and others are ready to respond if russia continues to provoke disarray in ukraine. >> i guess i'm a little confused in the definition of meddling in an election. if russia is, as critics charge, bombarding eastern ukraine with propaganda, seeking in the special operatives, encouraging pro-russian thugs, how is he not already messing with the elections? >> look, i'm with you, jake. more fundamentally he's messing as a society, an economy, and political entity. i would think that he's already crossed any reasonable line. what i wasn't privy to are the details between the exchange of the american president and his german counterpart. what we also don't know and what i think we sh